Finding each other, adrift
by Dean Star
Summary: Two years apart, Kurt spending this time in Chicago and Dave in Iraq.  After a brutal attack Dave wakes up in a VA Hospital back home and as fate would have it Kurt walks through his door on the same exact day Dave wakes form a coma. future!Kurtofsky
1. 1: The VA

I do not own Glee or the characters Kurt Hummel and Dave Karofsky.

Synopsis: Kurt has graduated from Dalton, Dave has graduated from McKinley. Both of them have thought about the other over their two years separation, Kurt spending it in Chicago and Dave in Iraq. After a brutal attack Dave wakes up in a VA hospital close to home and is surprised to find Kurt Hummel walk into the room the very day he wakes up from a coma.

A/N: This will be out of both characters eyes but starts with Dave's back story, yes Davey joined the army and this starts out as a Karofsky in pain fic. It will take a little while to get to the fluff. You will see the writing changes with each PoV, Dave is more ignorant while Kurt will be more frivolous. It is still written in third person, though.

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Dave's eyes opened wide, the first sensation to hit him was the pain from the light, it was all too bright and he couldn't understand who would be shining a light directly in his face like that, was it another of Wrezneski's idiotic pranks? He reached out to push the fucker aside but no one was there, in fact his hand didn't move at all when he willed it to. Dave found himself strapped to wherever he was and the first real thought that came to his mind was fear, _Fuck they got me!_

No one scouts for sport stars in Lima, with a failing football team and a hokey team that was equally as bad Dave Karofsky's future wasn't exactly a shining beacon of hope. So far in the closet that he had himself believing that the boy he kissed, Kurt Hummel, somehow made him attracted to the boy and that he wasn't gay, not exactly. Dave was convinced he wasn't even gay, that somehow Kurt and his lady face was the only thing he was attracted to Kurt with his 'gay feelings'. So what is a man with no prospects and enough denial for the whole town of Lima to do?

"Dave you need to get out of my house." His father announced only five days after graduation. It surprised Dave, not fully really, that his father could be so blunt. His father was a blunt man, telling him there was no Santa Clause at four and even admitting to him in his freshmen year that he never wanted a child. There was no true fear or animosity between father and son, worse than that there was nothing there at all, indifference between the two.

"What…Dad I need to get out? Why?"

"Yes Dave you need to get out, you are eighteen and it is about time you go out on your own. Now I have prepared a little money for you to hold you over but you need to get a job and get moving on with your life." His father placed six hundred dollars in a neatly stacked and rubber banded bills in front of him and turned away. That would be the very last time he spoke to his father, he didn't fully regret it either. Though he thought of him often and realized maybe he didn't fully feel indifference for the old man.

Dave lived with his best friend Azimio for only two months. The two of them rented out an apartment together and for a month it was the best time of his life. He partied almost every day with friends, drinking freely because the eighteen year olds both looked well over twenty one. After a while Dave couldn't help but feel like he was missing out on something, as if he was just…stuck at where he was.

The last month was horrible, Azimio ended up getting a girl pregnant and she moved in with them. The girl was a neat freak and hated to party so everything changed. Dave couldn't handle her attitude and found himself wondering why anyone would ever want to marry a woman, especially a pregnant one.

After a week of utter hell he found himself standing in front of the local army recruit station and enlisted on the spot, what else was he going to do with his life? Anything had to be better then the anger, sadness and especially the frustration he felt in Lima. There would be no girls in the army (though there were, Dave figured them to be lesbians because they acted more like a guy then Kurt Hummel ever did). He also figured that the Army's strict policy on gays coupled with the training would beat any homo thoughts he had for Hummel out of him. At the very least going over to Iraq would make it so he would never have to see Kurt Hummel ever again. If he didn't have to see his father or the bitch Azimio was playing baby daddy with then that would just be an added bonus.

_Look at where it ended you up, Karofsky!_ He thought as his eyes adjusted to the light. He was just starting to realize the light was faint, not bright and angry like he thought. The gentle hum of the machines pumping into his body, the beep of the heart monitor, the gentle glow of the light above him and the straps holding him down were suffocating. If he didn't have a tube down his nose to breathe for him he would feel like he is suffocating at least.

He laid there for what had to be hours with no company but someone next to him, a guy about his age who was hooked up to as many tubes as he was. The dude was sleeping, or was it a coma? _Is that what I was in, a coma? Did I look like…like that?_

Dave's heart began to race, the beeping on the monitor doubled in speed. A year in Iraq and he is in a hospital, unable to move. Oh god, he couldn't feel his legs.

The door swung open and he screamed, at least he did in his head. He closed his eyes tight, only opening them enough to have a small sliver of sight. Dave didn't know where he was, for all he knew he could be held by the enemy.

To his surprise Mercedes Jones from high school walked in and didn't give him a single glance, she walked over to his roommate and began to look his body over. Dave didn't know what she was doing; she wasn't dressed like a nurse or a doctor. She moved her hands over his arms, checking his skin over. She slowly brought his arms up and down, slowly and carefully stretching the muscles in his arms and his legs. She didn't say a word as she did this and Dave couldn't help but stare at her in an odd fascination.

After twenty minutes she sat down on the chair across from the guy's bed, "Well baby it's been fifty three days now since you been here. I won't say it's easy it's…" She lowered her eyes in shame, "It's really hard I…"

"Mercedes! I swear I get lost every time I come up here!" A voice called out from the hall, loud and boisterous. Dave eyes widened in horrific excitement as Kurt Hummel walked through the door and directly over to Mercedes. Kurt looked even better then he did in High School, slightly taller and lither, the self proclaimed pear hips were gone and the tight pants he wore were perfectly taunt on his bubble bu…rear end. Dave was surprised that Kurt looked as if he was almost republican in his attire, it was the first time he saw Kurt in an outfit that didn't scream "Queen!" as he sashayed into the room. Just a polo and simple jeans.

Mercedes smiled meekly, "He just won't wake up Kurt I don't know what to do."

"Mercedes the doctors said it would take time, I can't imagine how hard it is." He spoke in the most comforting way he knew how.

There was an awkward silence that even made Dave a little awkward and he was basically a vegetable lying in bed. Thoughts of Kurt filled his head and suddenly he forgot where he was, forgot about the struggle of the past year. Forgot about his father and Azimio knocking up a random chick. It was like he was back in high school all over again, the tears in his eyes began to burn.

Kurt looked down on Mercedes sitting there so broken then looked back to her husband, Warren. He thought the two couldn't be any different and he wasn't even thinking about the color of their skin. Mercedes had attitude in spades, Gaga bless her but Kurt noticed how hard it was for her to find a boyfriend. She met Warren at the end of senior year and she said it was love at friend sight; Warren was a dork and totally not her type. At least that was what Kurt thought. The two of them ran off to Vegas and got hitched before he was sent off to Iraq.

A year later and he is in a coma for two months with little hope of recovery. Kurt felt guilty suddenly for all of the frivolous things going on in his life. As if his problems weren't worth worrying about. He also felt pride for Mercedes sticking with Warren even when he was in a coma with little prospect of waking, he never realized she had that strength in her.

As he wondered if he could ever do such a thing for a boyfriend he looked over to the other patient in the room and suddenly froze on the spot. Karofsky was lying there, pale and unmoving. He had more tubes in him then Warren did, more wires and it looked like he lost half of his body weight from high school. Warren looked like a skeleton after two months so Kurt could tell Dave hadn't been here as long.

His eyes were open though, those terrifying eyes that always had such an odd mixed emotion when they looked at Kurt back when he was at McKinley. He could never read Karofsky's eyes but now they looked older, in pain and he could clearly see the tears in them falling down his cheek.

"Karofsky…" Kurt whispered.

Mercedes looked up to him, "Boy what you talking about?" She followed his line of vision to the other patient, it took her a little longer then Kurt to realize who it was. When she saw his eyes open she was angry, why did he get to wake up and not Warren? Warren was so gentle, Karofsky was tantamount to a monster from a children's story who was evil for no reason at all. Her mother's voice echoed in her head telling her it was God's will, all of the sudden she had the urge to not go back to church until Warren woke up.

"That is frickin Dave Karofsky!" Kurt called out and then smiled. "Mercedes you think I could run home and grab my stage make up and do him up in, I do not know, one of those trashy queens from Drag race? Or is that too cruel? I guess he is in the army now so…oh I know! Aheda Lettuce! He will look good in green and it would match whatever green the army uses for their camo!" Kurt was lost in thought once again. He could see Karofsky graduating from video games and doing the real thing, over there fighting the war against the Ay-rabs. He shook his head at the racist innuendo and mentally slapped himself.

"Kurt he's awake, this is the coma wing. You should go get someone." She said coldly.

Kurt looked over to Karofsky, "After what he did to me maybe we should just let him lay there for a little while longer."

"Kurt!" Mercedes admonished him. "I know you hate him but you aren't cruel."

Kurt sighed, "Girl you know me too well. I still think I have enough time to grab the makeup, at least when he looks in the mirror he doesn't have to stare at that scraggly beard…if I didn't hate him I would gladly trim it for him. He kind of looks like the unibomber" With that Kurt turned and looked at Dave for a few moments as he walked out of the room. If you trimmed the beard it would frame his face nicely, as long as his hair was done up better then the scraggly mess it was. The weight Dave lost made him look more handsome, too. His face was thinner and his body pretty muscular compared to the pudgy guy he used to be in high school.

As Kurt walked out of the room to find a nurse or doctor he stopped for a moment, realizing this was the first time he looked at Dave Karofsky and wasn't afraid. It had to be the tubes and how vulnerable he was, it couldn't be because of that stirring he got in his stomach when he looked at Dave's…handsome….face.

"No, not at all!" He whistled as he walked down the hall towards the nurse's station.

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A/N: So what do you think? Review! I always thought the army would do Dave some good, get out his frustrations (thought being around a bunch of guys would bring up other frustrations). I also believe it would be a good starting point for a Kurtofsky relationship that might work: a hurt Dave who you can't really fear anymore and a Kurt who might want to take care of him when he realizes he is just a big teddy bear now. There will be a few original characters, mainly background friends for Dave fro the army and people who work in the VA Hospital. There won't be any main OC, people from McKinley and Dalton might show up if people like the fic enough for me to continue it! Thank you for reading.


	2. 2: Stars

I do not own Glee or the characters Kurt Hummel and Dave Karofsky. Any characters based on those form the TV show Glee are property of Fox.

A/N: Sorry this took so long, promise the next won't (I had the fricking flu, ef you the flu!). Thank you for all of the favs/alerts/etc, especially if you submitted a review! A few of you didn't like how catty Kurt has become, there is a reason but I will tone it down a bit, don't worry he isn't one of those stereotypical catty gay guys picking on people for no reason, I promise. This chapter gives you more from Kurt's POV then Dave, we learned what has happened to Dave now we learn what has happened to Kurt. You will also see why Mercedes and Kurt are a lot closer then they were in HS!

Review if you luv me, I luv you I promise! :-p

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The hallway is cold, hospitals always have that eerie chill to them that carries the smell of disinfectant no matter where you go, no matter how far you run from it. Kurt hates hospitals, he didn't have many experiences with hospitals but the few he did always ended badly, life changingly bad. He had visited Warren with Mercedes only a handful of times when she had one of those really bad days. Those days that she just sat around her house staring at nothing, thinking about Warren and unable to think about anything else. She was like a junky, addicted to thinking about "what if Warren woke up", crazy scenarios running through her head until it caused a head ache. Kurt never had the heart to tell her how much it hurt walking into the hospital every time, he was afraid it would break her, if she wasn't broken already.

As he rounds the corner Kurt put the barrier up, a bright smile with flashy eyes and a chipper attitude. It was a practiced art, mastered by just being who he was living in Ohio. Created because of his time in Mckinley, Karofsky being the biggest reason his barrier was created. No one can know you are sad if you put up that practiced smile on your face.

"Excuse me a patient has woken up." Kurt calls out matter of factly but no one was at the nurse's desk. He frowns, "Now what?"

The nurse came out of nowhere, dancing along with whatever song was on his iPod. Kurt watched him move, he was as good as that Asian kid that was in the Glee club at McKinley. He was getting into it a little too much for being in the middle of the hospital, the blue scrubs he wore making him look like a dancing smurf to Kurt which made him smile. Kurt could see his lips moving as well and wonders if he was having one of those dancing fantasies he always had, like when he sang Rose's Turn in the auditorium and suddenly there was a big _Kurt_ sign in flashing lights behind him.

When the nurse finally spots Kurt he laughs and stops dancing, the nurse was a cutie. Tall and lithe, his dark skin indicated he was from the Middle East, his hair and eyes even darker. The nurse smils as he removed his earphones, "Sorry I was getting into it a little too much." He indicated to his earphones. "How can I help you?"

Kurt swooned at the British accent, color rouging his cheeks. "One of the patients just woke up is room 204."

"Oh? Did you give them a kiss and they woke up?"

Kurt giggled and was immediately ashamed of it because it was such a bad pick up line and he was acting like a school girl, "Sorry but sleeping beauty? Please! The girl eats food from a stranger and lives with a bunch of midgets, not exactly my type."

The nurse laughs loudly, guttural, his dark eyes scanning Kurt over. "That is a good one my friend. I am Habib, you say someone has woken up? Are you sure?"

Kurt nodded, "Yes his eyes are open."

Habib waves at Kurt as if to dismiss him, "It happens, just natural reflexes. It is a good sign though; it shows there is still some brain activity. We will have to put tape over his eyes to keep them shut though."

Kurt wonders if Warren's eyes ever opened up in the middle of the night looking for Mercedes. "Well I happen to know the guy and while he is enough of a Neanderthal to think he is brain dead even when he is up and walking…" Kurt stopped himself and sighed. "Sorry, what I mean is his eyes are looking around the room, looking right at us as we move around."

Habib's whole body immediately shifts into gear, throwing a chart on the desk he follows Kurt back down the hall and Kurt moved aside as he worked over Karofsky.

"Mr. Karofsky my name is Habib, can you hear me?"

Dave nods carefully; he suddenly wonders what Mercedes and Kurt were doing over in Iraq and why he was in an Iraqi hospital and not an Army hospital.

"Good, good Mr. Karofsky you have been in a coma for two weeks after the attack. You have been brought back to Ohio, you are right outside of Chicago. Please remain calm, I am going to go and get a doctor to remove the breathing tube and the cuffs on your hands and feet. Is that alright?"

Dave slowly nods and watches as the nurse saunters off, almost making the same movements Kurt made when he walked. His eyes shifted over to Kurt who was obviously watching the nurse intently. Suddenly he found himself jealous and couldn't push those feelings aside. He hadn't thought of Kurt in months, he hadn't thought about his past in the USA at all in fact. He was beginning to feel himself move on; instead of being the closeted homophobe from Ohio he was the jarhead in Iraq. He no longer felt that need to get close to Kurt, to touch him and be around him, Karofsky found his cure.

Now seeing Kurt here, of all places, brought all of those feelings back. To reach out and hold him. To be a part of him. He needed him, craved him, wanted to know if his skin still felt like silk. Wanted to feel his breath on his neck, wanted to taste him. Wanted to hear him sing.

"Oh boy, have the hots for Habib?" Mercedes laughs, cutting Dave away from his revere.

Kurt turns to her and playfully slaps her on the shoulder, "You're awful Mercedes!" He looked solemn all of the sudden. "You know I'm not…"

He stopped in mid sentence as the nurse walked in with a doctor, both of them looking hopeful and excited that Karofsky is awake. Dave desperately wanted to call out to Kurt and ask him to finish that sentence. You're not what? Interested in Iraqis? No way was Hummel straight; the little guy was more queer then a drag queen. What if, though, some bizzaro world action happened and Fancy now favored women? He did go out with that ditz for a while before he left for that school full of fellow fags.

Kurt picks up his bag and slings it over his shoulder, "Well M, I think it is time for us to make our exit. I am really not interested in watching them remove the catheter and Gaga, does he have a colostomy bag?" He whispers in an eerie curiosity he looks over trying to see if Dave was defecating into a bag.

Mercedes glares at him, "Look Kurt don't be talking about them like that, k?"

Kurt stood and looked over to Warren realizing everything he said about Dave also applied to him as well, "Oh my Gaga…I am so sorry M. I didn't mean to…"

"Kurt its fine just stop ok? I know you don't like hospitals but I wanted you to be here, for me." She looked over to Dave. "Even though he was, well, an ass at Mckinley he probably went through a lot. Warren did. These guys aren't here because it's club med."

Kurt puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes gently, "I promise I will be as pristine in attitude as I am with my outfit for now on." He kissed her on the cheek. "I will see you later, ok?"

She nodded with a smile. Kurt stood and looked over to Karofsky one last time, the doctor and cute nurse were explaining how the air tube would come out of his throat. Karofsky did look helpless and Kurt figured that was why he didn't fear Karofsky anymore. Still, Karofsky did threaten his life after all, that wasn't something you just forgave as if did it accidentally.

As Kurt made his way out to the hall Dave watches him go, not paying attention at all to what the doctor was saying. He saw as the Iraqi nurse waved playfully at Kurt, obviously flirting. His eyes glass over from pain to wanting to anger to tears falling down gently form the corner of his eyes, each one twinkling in the over head light.

And Mercedes saw all of the emotions his eyes conveyed.

The whole ride home Kurt bounced so many feelings and memories around in his head that he couldn't pin them down to decide how he truly felt about the whole thing. Karofsky made his life miserable in High School but neither of them were students anymore, Karofsky was a soldier in the army. He would admit that his catty attitude wasn't necessary; Karofsky didn't disserve that in the state he was in. Plus the year in Dalton did him well; Blaine really helped him understand Dave Karofsky. He understood that Karofsky was acting out because he couldn't express his feelings. Since Kurt was the only one he met that had similar feelings he acted out around Kurt. Kurt never pointed out that all the fellow Gleeks had slushy facials from the brute but the other behavior, the attacks, began to make sense.

How do you forgive someone like that, though? Kurt was gay and he never lifted a hand against anyone. Kurt was gay and he accepted everyone for who they are. Kurt struggled with it, maybe not as much as everyone else but that doesn't make his pain any less hurtful then Karofsky's pain in accepting what he was.

After he pulled into his driveway all the emotions were swept under the rug of anger. He slammed his car door shut and did the same to the front door, throwing his bag on the couch and walking furiously into the kitchen. He would realize later that night that it was the first time he didn't look at the picture of Blake and himself holding hands in Honolulu, tropical flowers surrounding them and a small green frog jumping from his shoulder over to Blaine's shoulder. For half a year now he walked into the house and like a religious alter he stood before that picture, starring, wondering what happened.

Kurt's three corgis came bouncing into the living room toppling one over the other to vie for Kurt's attention first. Their tongues hanging out and one quickly was running at the back door, scratching and the sliding glass. "Huey, Dewey and Louie Vuitton behave!" He smiled, opening the door for his babies and letting them run out into the fenced in yard and kicking off his shoes onto the kitchen floor.

Kurt walked forward, entranced, not even noticing he left the door open. He made his way across the white deck and down into the yard, the grass tickling his feet through his socks. The cherry blossom tree, its flowers just starting to turn a slight pink began to bloom that day. He couldn't wait for the day that it would tower over the house, he hated to idea of picking up all the petals but it would be marvelous for his little sky blue home (with accents of white, of course).

He sits at the side of the tree, not touching it because it has only been in the ground for a few months.

"I saw Karofsky today." He spoke to the grass beneath him. "He is hurt pretty bad, still looks the brute but he had all of these tubes and machines hooked into him, he is in the VA Hospital with Warren. Part of me wanted to close off his air supply and part of me wanted to hug him. I doubt you would have approved of either actions" He pauses, looking over to the corgis chasing one another through the white rose bushes. "He looked so sad, that same look he gave me in high school. I thought it was anger back then, that look. but…it is sadness, I cn see that now."

Kurt grabs a few strands of grass and pulls them from the ground, moving the blades across his fingers. "You would tell me to visit him, to be there for him. I am…I'm scared Blaine." Dewey looked up to Kurt, tongue hanging out and tail waging at Blaine's name. "I don't know what to do. I wish you could tell me, you were always so good at these things."

He stands, admonishing himself for getting his pants dirty in the grass. He calls the three dogs in and looks back to the budding tree, "If you see Warren tell M is waiting for him to come back, I don't think she will make it if he stays there much longer Blaine."

The cherry blossom tree is only ten feet tall, the branches skinny but supporting the budding flowers well. Before it stands a gold plaque, big and heavy inside a clear plastic casing staked into the yard. When the tree grows for a few more years Kurt Hummel plans on having it put directly into the tree.

The plaque reads:

_**Blaine Anderson**_

_**1993 - 2012**_

"_**Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."**_

A tiny infinity symbol carved at the bottom of the plaque, two perfect circles with a heart at the center of each one, the circles touching at the center.


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